Friday, December 16, 2011

We went to the park with friends the other day. It was chilly enough to need a coat but not a hat. However, Kate insisted. And she insisted on wearing her little backpack the entire time. Add the jeans and tennis shoes and I'd say she was totally rocking the homeless person look, don't you think?

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I never got around to blogging this before, but last year I was asked to teach a class on Christ-centered Christmas traditions at a church activity. Last year was a rough year for me, and since I suspected I wasn't the only one feeling like I could barely keep my head above water sometimes, I really wanted to come up with something for my class that was actually helpful instead of just guilt-inducing.

Most things seems to suggest that having a Christ-centered Christmas is "simple." All I have to do is remember each and every day of December to remember to pull out some 3-ring binder full cheesy stories and read one while my angelic children sit still and listen without poking each other or needing to still finish their homework. Or to gather my whole family around to write and stage our own nativity musical for all of the neighbors, with proceeds to be used in our own elaborate 12 Days of Christmas charitable act. Or to make lists of all the fabulous good things we intend to do as gifts to Jesus and hand embroider them onto a blanket that we keep track of for an entire year so we can reflect on our failure next December. All of these could be great ideas if they work for you, but when you're already feeling overwhelmed, they could also be enough to make you collapse into a sobbing heap.

I decided instead to focus on actually SIMPLE things we could do because if anyone suggested one more complicated thing to add to the Christmas season, I was gonna scream.

I started out the class by horrifying all in attendance with my singing voice as I performed this little number:

The Ballad of Carol's Christmas

(to the tune of Gilligan's Island)

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of a stressful time
That started on Thanksgiving day,

So listen to my rhyme.

Carol is a mighty busy gal

Who fills her days and nights

And yells at her busy husband to

Put up the Christmas lights.

The Christmas bonus will be used

To buy a 12 foot tree

And a blow up Santa Claus

Riding a Harley, riding a Harley.

Her cards say “Happy Holidays”

But she forgot the stamps.

The ones that show all 8 reindeer

Dressed up like little tramps.

She wants to give gifts to her friends,

Co-workers, neighbors too,

But without time for homemade fudge,

Some candy canes will do.

Now what to get her husband Bob

So he will think she rocks?

No time - just get a gift card or

Another pair of socks.

She has to buy the latest toy

And that would seem just fine

If she didn't have to stand and wait

In a three hour line, a three hour line.

Carol sets the wrapping paper down

In the only open space

With a Barbie doll

And Skipper too,

Potato Head and his wife,

A movie player,

A processor and memory

Here on the kitchen island.

And while she wraps and wraps and wraps

She listens with her ear

To songs about how Grandma got

Run over by reindeer.

Across the post office counter

The presents all get tossed.

If not for the tracking number she got,

The package would be lost, the package would be lost.

Yes, Christmas time was here again

For Carol's family.

They're just too busy to make time

For the nativity.

We all feel pity for Carol.

She has too much to do.

A little too familiar –

Does Carol sound like you? Does Carol sound like you?

O Christmas time, it seems we have

Done all our time permits.

In all the many things we do

This is where Jesus fits?

Amazed at what has happened

Here in this world of sin,

With tears we stop and wonder how

The dear Christ enters in? The dear Christ enters in?

Then, threatening to kick out anyone who suggested something that wasn't simple, we had an open discussion about ways to replace or simplify our existing traditions to be more Christ-centered. Some of my favorite suggestions (that I remember) included:

Buying/making Christmas cards that say "Merry Christmas" and not just "Happy Holidays," etc.

Instead of going out as a family to look at Christmas lights, go out to visit a nativity (many churches/communities have really cool live ones)

Instead of a big elaborate Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner, have a Bethlehem meal on the floor of figs, dates, olives, goat cheese, nuts, grapes, grape juice, dried meat, honey, fish, etc. Things that Mary and Joseph might have eaten at the time.

Read inspiring Christmas stories for bed time with your children instead of their usual bedtime stories

Sing Christmas hymns for bed time songs to your children

Listen to Christmas hymns as you go about your activities

Giving Christ-centered items out as gifts to friends/neighbors/co-workers, or at least attaching a Christ-centered tag/message ("Joy to the World" pass along cards or even the "Joy to the World" video itself were mentioned)

Now remember, if you don't already do an equivalent of one of these activities, you shouldn't feel obligated to start doing it. You can if you want. But if you're already doing something similar to one of these, why not tweak it a little to be more Christ-centered? But whatever you do, DO NOT STRESS YOURSELF OUT. Otherwise I will have failed completely.

I ended the class by having a friend (who could actually make it sound pretty) sing:

(to the tune of O Little Town of Bethlehem)

O Christmas time, it seems we have

Done all our time permits.

In all the many things we do

This is where Jesus fits.

Amazed at what has happened

Here in this world of sin,

With tears we stop and wonder how

The dear Christ enters in.

Sometimes you don't need to add more verses to your song, you just need to change your tune.

I don't know how well this idea conveys without actually hearing it. I'm not a music person, so I'm not even sure how well it worked out in person. But I'm trying to change my "Christmas tune" to be a little more O Little Town of Bethlehem and a little less Gilligan's Island.

Anyone have any suggestions for simple changes that can be made for a more Christ-centered Christmas? How have you "changed your tune"?

[WARNING: Same rules apply as the class I taught - KEEP IT SIMPLE. But since I can't kick you off the internet, instead just know that if you break my rules M and I will mock you mercilessly amongst ourselves. Be intimidated. Be very intimidated.]

Friday, December 9, 2011

Isn't playing in the dirt a quintessential childhood memory? My kids don't seem to like playing outside all that much at our house, but at my parents' house they LOVE to get "down and dirty." Kate was collecting these "rocks" (AKA clumps of dirt) and handing them to me. Carrying around her large collection of "rocks" was only mildly annoying until she handed me a dried up cow patty "rock." Now Kate knows the phrase, "cow poop."

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I want to force myself to practice taking photos a little more, so I'll be posting for this 30 Day Photography Challenge even though the "official" challenge is over. Posts may or may not be daily.